VIDEO and PICTURES: Huge factory blaze in Tipton 'suspicious'

The inferno swept through around 100 pallets - each holding £250 worth of plastic plant pots and covering 150 meters by 50 meters of a yard - and gutted a metal container in which an estimated £15,000 more stock was stored.

Twelve crews from a host of fire stations across the region prevented the flames spreading to the main building of injection moulding firm Aeroplas Ltd in Great Western Way, Great Bridge.

Astonishingly the massive blaze was under control within 90 minutes.

Nine jets - one from a hydraulic platform - poured water onto the flames and fought to keep the nearby building from being consumed by the inferno.

The alarm was raised around 11.30 pm on Thursday night.

Watch Commander Martin Mills from Tipton fire station, who were the second crew on the scene, said: "The main problem was getting water to it. Initially we were not able to get as close to it as we would have liked because of the heat that was being chucked out by the fire.

"The hydraulic platform was a big help because that enabled us to get over the top of it.

"There were between 80 and 100 wooden pallets each with £250 worth of stock.

"There was around £15,000 more in the metal container that was so badly destroyed it was difficult to see what it held. We could not get inside and everything there was melted."

Watch Commander Adam Joyce from Oldbury fire station added: "There was a rapid development of the fire because of the material involved.

"It was also stored outside and the breeze helped it to develop even quicker.

"But there were eight crews on the ground and another on the hydraulic platform surrounding the fire who got water onto it as quickly as possible. This enabled a prompt extinguishing of the fire."

Investigations into the blaze were continuing last night to establish what started it, with the cause currently regarded as suspicious.